Comics Review: Uncanny X-Force and Uncanny Avengers

As I’ve mentioned in a fewposts recently, I have been working on finding new comics to read. In part, because my summer has been so busy that comics are one of my main forms of entertainment. I love my Marvel iPad app, love new comics on Wednesday, and am loving what I have been reading working with our LitFlix so far.

I lost a few of the comics I got back into comics with – Uncanny X-Force, and X-Treme X-Men. It was the end of X-Treme X-Men that started my hunt for new comics, but today, let’s look at what I found by trying out the new Uncanny X-Force.

Uncanny X-Force: Volume 2

Almost right after Uncanny X-Force ended its first run, a new creative team took over a new Uncanny X-Force, starting back at an issue number 1. Following a few of the same characters, they are not a “team” but are still out just kind of doing things. Psylocke, and it looks like Fantomex, will be continuing on, as well as Storm, into this comic.

I have now read the first six comics, and it’s gotten me thinking about the first volume. I didn’t necessarily read it for the characters – Archangel, Psylocke, Deadpool, Fantomex, and Wolverine. Well, okay, I was excited for Age of Apocalypse Nightcrawler. But really, there’s the thing – they went to the Age of Apocalypse. They fought (and killed) Apocalypse. They went to several alternate futures.

It was the plots that I loved, the places they went, playing with what the future could be if this X-Force shaped the future. And it was not a good future. But exploring these potentialities was a lot of fun. So anyway, I should probably talk about the new comic.

I am not getting from this comic what I got from the first volume of Uncanny X-Force. The plot so far is around a psychic enemy that has taken over a returned Bishop and… yeah, not as interesting a plot as they were. Don’t worry, I’ve found an alternative.

Let’s talk about the good: the art. The creative stuff they are doing is pretty fun. Here’s a sample page:

So, will I keep reading this comic? Probably not. Maybe when there are combined versions, with bonus art, I may check it out, especially if on sale. It’s not bad, but I can’t read every comic coming out – that’s a lot of money! So meanwhile, there’s another comic I’ve found, that is related, and started a little before this new Uncanny X-Force. Tapping the writer from Uncanny X-Force, Rick Remender.

Uncanny Avengers

While this might sound like a weak attempt at a comic name, there’s a specific intent to this comic title. Starting after the climactic events at the end of Avengers vs. X-Men (I guess they were? One person died, but it was big. Okay, it was Xavier), it was decided that a way to have humans and mutants work together was to have an Avengers team led by an X-Man: Havoc.

Another comic full of characters that I am only mildly interested in, this team – Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Wonder Man, Wolverine, Rogue, Scarlet Witch, Sunfire, and Havoc – was definitely not what got me into the comic. In fact, their first plot I skipped. (At first – I’ll get to that). Instead, I saw that there was a new plot of the Uncanny Avengers versus the Apocalypse Twins – fallout from Uncanny X-Force.

Wait a minute. Yep, Uncanny Avengers is being written by Rick Remender. Intriguing.

So honestly, I don’t know what all is going on with the Apocalypse Twins. They’ve been led by Kang the Conqueror, not a villain I know very well, but that they really sold to me with this scene:

That is one of the most amazing pages in a comic I have seen. Take a minute. See what you recognize – then think of Kang having defeated all of those people. In multiple realities, because there are more than one of a number of them. I am super excited to see where this plot goes.

Then I went back and read their first plot, and oh my goodness. In a few words, Red Skull digs up Professor X and grafts his mental powers into himself.

Yep, so, the crazy dark stuff from Uncanny X-Force is there. As is multiple-reality plots and exploration. I love this homage to Days of Future Past, with that future all of a sudden a possible future again, because of the evil and violence of the Red Skull:

The lead-in to the Apocalypse plot made me even more interested and excited for it – because the two plots lead into each other, and we got to see this single page:

Things are getting bad, and soon, for the plot! The major plot moment is upon them! This is a great comic, and I am super excited to see where it goes – definitely one I will be continuing to read!

9 responses to “Comics Review: Uncanny X-Force and Uncanny Avengers”

For my part, I read comics more for the characters than the stories. So the current volume of Uncanny X-Force has, for me, been fantastic. Humphries does a great job with the characters. The story is fairly intriguing, but it’s the characters who bring me back every issue.

The previous volume of UXF had 14 great issues. From #1 to #18, it was excellent, with the exception of the awful Age of Apocalypse arc. I was a fan of the original AoA. I thought it was a lot of fun. It still holds a place in my heart. Remender’s return to it in UXF was unbelievably bad. Setting aside that he essentially destroyed the whole world, it was simply written in a terrible manner. And then after UXF #18, the series just limped along to the end.

And that brings me to Uncanny Avengers. I’ll be writing a post soon about my many problems with this series. But it ultimately comes down to it not being the book it should be. I just generally find Remender to be a middling writer who struck gold once, and now gets more praise than he deserves as a result.